Swearing can beat pain: research

Swearing really can relieve pain but only for the polite who don't curse
often, researchers have found.

Reserving your use of bad language for when you hit your thumb with a hammer or drop a box on your foot is the best way to get maximum relief from a burst of swearing, it was found.

Researchers at Keele University found that people who do not often swear in their everyday life could hold their hands in ice-cold water for longer when they did succumb to foul language than those who regularly pepper their conversations with curse words.

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The research was conducted by Richard Stephens and Claudia Umland from Keele’s School of Psychology and published in The Journal of Pain.

The new research replicated Dr Stephens’ 2009 findings showing that people can withstand an ice-cold water challenge for longer by repeatedly swearing compared with reciting a neutral word.

It is believed that swearing helps most people better tolerate pain by provoking an emotional response leading to “stress-induced analgesia”.

This natural form of pain relief is part of the body’s “fight or flight” response, along with a surge in adrenalin.

Dr Richard Stephens, a senior lecturer in Psychology at Keele University, said: “Swearing is a very emotive form of language and our findings suggest that overuse of swear words can water down their emotional effect.

"Used in moderation, swearing can be an effective and readily available short-term pain reliever if, for example, you are in a situation where there is no access to medical care or painkillers. However, if you’re used to swearing all the time, our research suggests you won’t get the same effect.

“Normal language is associated with the cortex (the outer layer) of the left side of the brain, but swearing seems to activate deeper parts of the brain more associated with emotions.

"We are just scratching the surface of how swearing can influence our emotions and how it can have impact in different situations. In the context of pain swearing appears to serve as a simple form of emotional self-mana

“Our research suggests that swearing is a useful part of language that can help us express strong emotions or react to high pressure situations. However, it would be wise only to swear in moderation as overuse of swearing seems to water down this effect”